Freighter was entered in two AKC conformation shows this past weekend.  On Saturday we were scheduled to be in the ring shortly after 8 am.  Nice and early.  Since we were going directly to field training after the show, we had to load up all of the dogs and gear and be out the door around 6 am.

We try to get to a show with enough time to walk around and calm wild child Freighter down before his turn in the ring.

This was hubby’s first time showing Freighter.  His breeder had shown him in previous shows.  She did a great job of giving him positive experiences, so now it is hubby’s turn to show him.

Freighter has been working nicely for hubby in conformation class and at home and we were hoping that all that work would translate into nice work in the ring.

It sure did.  He was a good boy and very cooperative.  He let hubby stack him and held his stack.

He moved very nicely.

And showed good expression.

At this show, hubby and Freighter had their work cut out for them.  There were 23 Chessies entered on Saturday and 7 of them were class dogs.

Conformation Shows are broken into classes and you enter the class where you feel your dog fits.  On Saturday, there was one 12-18 Month Dog, 3 Bred By Exhibitor Dogs and 3 Open Dogs.  Freighter was entered as an Open Dog.  He won his class and then went on to compete for Winners Dog.  He did a great job, but the judge liked another dog better.  He was awarded Reserve Winners Dog (which is like coming in second).  He didn’t get any points toward his championship, but since this was a large show, it was a very nice placement.

Sunday was a slightly different story.  We showed later in the day and had a lot of dogs (other breeds) ahead of us in the ring before it was our turn.  It was a warm day (of course) and Freighter was a little wound up.

Sunday’s Judge was from England and these were his first shows in the US.  He had the dogs line up in a different spot than most judges so I was in the wrong position to get any pictures of the dogs stacked.  It was also difficult for me to get many pictures of the dogs moving because they were ending up in from of me rather than across the ring.  I couldn’t really move because there were a lot of people around the ring.  Oh well.  Those are the breaks.

This judge took a lot of time going over the dogs.  Hubby told me that he even lifted a back foot and checked the webbing!  We have not really seen that.  It also appeared that he was very interested in watching how the dogs moved.

Freighter is a nice moving dog.  But remember he was wound up and being a brat in the ring.  Hubby would stack him, and then he would move a foot.  I did notice that Freighter fixed his foot placement a couple of times, so he is learning.

His first around was just OK. His down and back was just OK.

Hubby had his hands full, but Freighter did well enough to win his class.  He went on to the Winners Dog competition and did much better and was awarded Winners Dog.  There were 22 Chessies on Sunday, but the same number of dogs (7) which meant that Freighter earned 4 points and one major win toward his Championship.

In AKC Shows points are determined based on the number of dogs entered and defeated.  7 dogs = 4 points.  Also, in order to earn a Championship, a dog must get two of what they call “major” wins.  A major is any win where the dog is awarded 3, 4, or 5 points.  Each major must be under a different judge.  Freighter got his first major win on Sunday so he is on his way.  Our goal for him this Spring was to hopefully get some points on him and points that are also a  major is a great accomplishment.

Thank you to the judges and congratulations to all of the other winners.  Thanks also go to hubby’s conformation instructor Roz for helping him with Freighter.  She really is an excellent instructor.  Thanks also to one of our field training buddies, Craig, who came out to support.  I think he was a good luck charm!  Most of all congrats to hubby and Freighter who did a great job!

We had a picture taken in the ring with the judge so if it turns out, I will post it.

We have Freighter entered in a couple of more shows at the end of the month.  We need to work on him being more comfortable with the judge checking his teeth so that is our homework.